Identifying transitions within media content items

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are disclosed for identifying transitions within media content items. In one implementation, a processing device process a first media content item, the first media content item being associated with a transition, to identify one or more characteristics associated with the transition. The processing device processes a second media content item to identify at least one of the one or more characteristics at a chronological interval of the second media content item. The processing device receives a sponsored content item. The processing device provides, during a presentation of the second media content item, the sponsored content item at the chronological interval.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects and implementations of the present disclosure relate to dataprocessing, and more specifically, to identifying transitions withinmedia content items.

BACKGROUND

Audio and video content can be stored on data servers and provided tousers for listening/viewing over the Internet. Applications forsupporting the listening/viewing of such audio and video content may bebrowser-based, or may run independently of a browser.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects of thisdisclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects.This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects,and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements nordelineate the scope of such aspects. Its purpose is to present someconcepts of this disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, a processing device process afirst media content item, the first media content item being associatedwith a transition, to identify one or more characteristics associatedwith the transition. The processing device processes a second mediacontent item to identify at least one of the one or more characteristicsat a chronological interval of the second media content item. Theprocessing device receives a sponsored content item. The processingdevice provides, during a presentation of the second media content item,the sponsored content item at the chronological interval.

In another aspect, a processing device receives a media content itemwith respect to which one or more transitions have been identified. Theprocessing device provides, during a presentation of the media contentitem, a sponsored content item in relation to at least one of the one ormore transitions

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Aspects and implementations of the present disclosure will be understoodmore fully from the detailed description given below and from theaccompanying drawings of various aspects and implementations of thedisclosure, which, however, should not be taken to limit the disclosureto the specific aspects or implementations, but are for explanation andunderstanding only.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative system architecture, in accordance withone implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts a flow diagram of aspects of a method for identifyingtransitions within media content items.

FIG. 3A depicts an exemplary media content item, in accordance with oneimplementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3B depicts an exemplary media content item, in accordance with oneimplementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4A depicts an exemplary media content item, in accordance with oneimplementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4B depicts an exemplary media content item, in accordance with oneimplementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of an illustrative computer systemoperating in accordance with aspects and implementations of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects and implementations of the present disclosure are directed toidentifying transitions within media content items. The systems andmethods disclosed can be applied to media content such as audio and/orvideo content, images, and/or any other content that can be collectedand/or disseminated such as via a media sharing service or website. Moreparticularly, various technologies enable the presentation of sponsoredcontent items (e.g., advertisements) within a presentation of a mediacontent item (e.g., by pausing the media content item at one or morepoints during the presentation, presenting the advertisement, and thenresuming presentation of the media content item). In order to improvethe viewing experience for viewers in such scenarios, one or moretransition or break points can be identified within the media contentitem (e.g., at points in which there is a transition from one scene,topic, etc., to another), and sponsored content items can be presentedat such points. However, traditionally such transitions have beenidentified via manual review (e.g., by a human reviewer who reviews eachindividual media content items and identifies appropriate transitionsmanually). Thus, in scenarios in which a large number of media contentitems are available, it may be inefficient (both from a time and coststandpoint) to have all of such media content items manually reviewed insuch a way.

Accordingly, described herein in various embodiments are technologiesthat enable identifying transitions within media content items. Forexample, as described herein, an initial body of reference content(e.g., videos with respect to which transitions have already beenidentified, e.g., at particular chronological intervals) can beprocessed (e.g., using one or more machine learning techniques) toidentify one or more characteristics (e.g., audio characteristics,visual characteristics) that correspond to the transition. Havingidentified such characteristics (e.g., across multiple videos), othercontent (e.g., newly uploaded videos) can be processed to identifycomparable characteristics (e.g., audio/video characteristics). Havingidentified such a transition within a media content item, uponpresenting such a media content item (e.g., to a viewer), sponsoredcontent items can be presented. In doing so, such transitions can beidentified and sponsored content items can be provided withoutnecessitating manual review or annotation.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative system architecture 100, in accordancewith one implementation of the present disclosure. The systemarchitecture 100 includes content creator device 102, content viewerdevice 104, content sponsor device 106, server machine 120, sponsoredcontent server 160. These various elements or components can beconnected to one another via network 110, which can be a public network(e.g., the Internet), a private network (e.g., a local area network(LAN) or wide area network (WAN)), or a combination thereof.

Content creator device 102 can be a rackmount server, a router computer,a personal computer, a portable digital assistant, a mobile phone, alaptop computer, a tablet computer, a camera, a video camera, a netbook,a desktop computer, a media center, any combination of the above, or anyother such computing device capable of implementing the various featuresdescribed herein. In certain implementations, content creator device 102can enable a media content creator, such as a user or entity thatcreates media content (e.g., audio, video, images, etc.) to provide(e.g., upload) such media content items to a server machine (e.g.,server machine 120), such as a server configured as a media sharingservice that can allow other users to view or otherwise acquire/obtainaccess to the provided media content items via the service.Additionally, content creator device 102 may run an operating system(OS) that manages hardware and software of the content creator device102. Various applications, such as mobile applications (‘apps’), webbrowsers, etc. (not shown) may run on the content creator device (e.g.,on the OS of the content creator device). Such applications can, forexample, enable a user to capture media content (e.g., an audio clip, avideo clip, etc.), provide media content (e.g., upload media content toa central server and/or transmit it to another user), receive mediacontent (e.g., via network 110), and/or view, display, or otherwisepresent media content (e.g., playing a video, listening to a song,etc.), such as via the content creator device 102.

Content viewer device 104 can be a rackmount server, a router computer,a personal computer, a portable digital assistant, a mobile phone, alaptop computer, a tablet computer, a camera, a video camera, a netbook,a desktop computer, a media center, any combination of the above, or anyother such computing device capable of implementing the various featuresdescribed herein. In certain implementations, content viewer device 104can enable a user, such an individual to interact with one or moreservices (e.g., media sharing services, social networks, etc.) such asin order to view and/or or otherwise interact with various media contentitems and/or related content. Additionally, content viewer device 104may run an operating system (OS) that manages hardware and software ofthe content viewer device 104. Various applications, such as mobileapplications (‘apps’), web browsers, etc. (not shown) may run on thecontent owner device (e.g., on the OS of the content owner device). Suchapplications can, for example, enable a user to capture media content(e.g., an audio clip, a video clip, etc.), provide media content (e.g.,upload media content to a central server and/or transmit it to anotheruser), receive media content (e.g., via network 110), and/or view,display, or otherwise present media content (e.g., playing a video,listening to a song, etc.), such as via the content viewer device 104.

Content sponsor device 106 can be a rackmount server, a router computer,a personal computer, a portable digital assistant, a mobile phone, alaptop computer, a tablet computer, a camera, a video camera, a netbook,a desktop computer, a media center, any combination of the above, or anyother such computing device capable of implementing the various featuresdescribed herein. In certain implementations, content sponsor device 106can enable a user/entity, such an advertiser to interact with one ormore services (e.g., an ad serving service) such as in order to providesponsored content items (e.g., advertisements) within media sharingservices, social networks, etc. Additionally, content sponsor device 106may run an operating system (OS) that manages hardware and software ofthe content sponsor device 106. Various applications, such as mobileapplications (‘apps’), web browsers, etc. (not shown) may run on thecontent owner device (e.g., on the OS of the content owner device). Suchapplications can, for example, enable a user to capture media content(e.g., an audio clip, a video clip, etc.), provide media content (e.g.,upload media content to a central server and/or transmit it to anotheruser), receive media content (e.g., via network 110), and/or view,display, or otherwise present media content (e.g., playing a video,listening to a song, etc.), such as via the content sponsor device 106.

Server machine 120 can be a rackmount server, a router computer, apersonal computer, a portable digital assistant, a mobile phone, alaptop computer, a tablet computer, a camera, a video camera, a netbook,a desktop computer, a media center, any combination of the above, or anyother such computing device capable of implementing the various featuresdescribed herein. Server machine 120 can include components such astransition identification engine 130, and media content store 140. Thecomponents can be combined together or separated in further components,according to a particular implementation. It should be noted that insome implementations, various components of server machine 120 may runon separate machines. Moreover, some operations of certain of thecomponents are described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 2.

Media content store 140 can be hosted by one or more storage devices,such as main memory, magnetic or optical storage based disks, tapes orhard drives, NAS, SAN, and so forth. In some implementations, mediacontent store 140 can be a network-attached file server, while in otherimplementations media content store 140 can be some other type ofpersistent storage such as an object-oriented database, a relationaldatabase, and so forth, that may be hosted by the server machine 120 orone or more different machines coupled to the server machine 120 via thenetwork 110, while in yet other implementations media content store 140may be a database that is hosted by another entity and made accessibleto server machine 120.

Media content store 140 can include media content items 141A-141N. Incertain implementations, media content items 141A-141N can correspond tomedia content itself (e.g., audio clips, video clips, images, etc.) andcan be provided, for example, by a content owner. Moreover, in certainimplementations, server machine 120 can be configured to allow fulland/or substantially unlimited access to such media content items.Accordingly, users wishing to access or view such media content itemsvia the media sharing service can be enabled, under most circumstances,to do so. Alternatively, in certain implementations server machine 120can be configured to utilize media content items 141 for referencepurposes (e.g., to compare to other media content items to identifysimilarities/matches between the various media content items), thoughsuch media content items are not accessible to users/viewers of themedia sharing service.

Media content store 140 can be hosted by one or more storage devices,such as main memory, magnetic or optical storage based disks, tapes orhard drives, NAS, SAN, and so forth. In some implementations, mediacontent store 140 can be a network-attached file server, while in otherimplementations media content store 140 can be some other type ofpersistent storage such as an object-oriented database, a relationaldatabase, and so forth, that may be hosted by the server machine 120 orone or more different machines coupled to the server machine 120 via thenetwork 110, while in yet other implementations media content store 140may be a database that is hosted by another entity and made accessibleto server machine 120.

Sponsored content server 160 can be a rackmount server, a routercomputer, a personal computer, a portable digital assistant, a mobilephone, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a camera, a video camera, anetbook, a desktop computer, a media center, any combination of theabove, or any other such computing device capable of implementing thevarious features described herein. Sponsored content server 160 caninclude components such as sponsored content store 150. The componentscan be combined together or separated in further components, accordingto a particular implementation. It should be noted that in someimplementations, various components of sponsored content server 160 mayrun on separate machines.

In certain implementations, sponsored content server 160 can be anadvertisement serving system/service. Such an ad service system/servicecan receive requests for sponsored content from various contentpublishers, such as a video sharing sites and/or social networks. Inresponse to requests from such content publishers, the ad serving systemcan provide various sponsored content items 151 (e.g., ads) forpresentation within websites, applications, interfaces, etc., providedby such content publishers (e.g., to one or more users, such as viadevices 102). In certain implementations, various content sponsors(e.g., advertisers) can provide compensation and/or other incentives tothe ad serving service (e.g., on a per impression, per click, perconversion, etc. basis) in return for the ad serving service servingsuch ads to the various content publishers. In doing so, such contentpublishers can monetize their respective services (e.g., media sharing,social networking, etc.). Moreover, in certain implementations suchcontent publishers can elect to share a portion of the revenue generatedby the presentation of such sponsored content with various contentcreators that provide content (e.g., media content items) via theservices provided by such content publishers (e.g., media sharingservices, social networks, etc.). In doing so, a content publisher canfurther incentivize content creators to create and disseminate content(e.g., media content items) via a particular service (e.g., the mediasharing service, social network, etc.).

Sponsored content store 150 can include sponsored content items151A-151N. In certain implementations, sponsored content items 151A-151Ncan correspond to sponsored content (e.g., audio, video, images, displayads, banner ads, video ads, audio ads, interactive ads, etc.) providedby one or more third parties, such as advertisers. As noted, suchadvertisers provide compensation and/or other incentives to contentpublishers (e.g., media sharing sites, social networking sites, etc.) inreturn for such publishers providing sponsored content items 151 tousers of a site or service of the publisher.

It should be understood that though FIG. 1 depicts server machine 120,sponsored content server 160, and devices 102, 104, and 106 as beingdiscrete components, in various implementations any number of suchcomponents (and/or elements/functions thereof) can be combined, such aswithin a single component/system. For example, in certainimplementations server machine 120 can incorporate features of thesponsored content server.

As described herein, upon receiving a media content item, such a mediacontent item can be processed to identify a transition within the mediacontent item. Having identified such a transition, a sponsored contentitem (e.g., an advertisement) can be provided during a presentation ofthe media content item and in relation to the transition. In certainimplementations, such operations can be performed by and/or inconjunction with transition identification engine 130.

FIG. 2 depicts a flow diagram of aspects of a method 200 for identifyingtransitions within media content items. The method is performed byprocessing logic that may comprise hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic,etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system ora dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one implementation,the method is performed by server machine 120 of FIG. 1, while in someother implementations, one or more blocks of FIG. 2 may be performed byanother machine. For example, in various alternative implementations,the method can be performed at a social network 170 (i.e., the method orvarious aspects thereof can be performed locally at the social network170 rather than in communication with a server such as server machine120).

For simplicity of explanation, methods are depicted and described as aseries of acts. However, acts in accordance with this disclosure canoccur in various orders and/or concurrently, and with other acts notpresented and described herein. Furthermore, not all illustrated actsmay be required to implement the methods in accordance with thedisclosed subject matter. In addition, those skilled in the art willunderstand and appreciate that the methods could alternatively berepresented as a series of interrelated states via a state diagram orevents. Additionally, it should be appreciated that the methodsdisclosed in this specification are capable of being stored on anarticle of manufacture to facilitate transporting and transferring suchmethods to computing devices. The term article of manufacture, as usedherein, is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from anycomputer-readable device or storage media.

At block 210, one or more media content items can be processed. Incertain implementations, such media content items (e.g., a set of mediacontent items, such as videos) can be media content items with respectto which a respective sponsored content item has been previouslyprovided, such as during a presentation of the particular media contentitem. In doing so, one or more characteristics can be identified, suchas with respect to one or more respective transitions present within oneor more of the media content items.

For example, it can be appreciated that a media sharing service caninclude various media content items (e.g., videos) that may have beenmanually annotated (e.g., by human reviewers) with one or more contentinsertion indicators (e.g., annotations at various chronological pointsor intervals during a video that have been identified as points at whichthe video may be stopped/paused and sponsored content may be presented).It can be appreciated that such indicators are likely to correspond tovarious transitions or transition points present within such mediacontent items (e.g., a scene change, etc.). As described herein, suchtransitions can be identified in order to enable the presentation ofsponsored content items (e.g., advertisements) at points within themedia content item that correspond to logical stops or breaks within themedia content item (e.g., transitions from one scene to another, etc.).In doing so, viewers of the media content item can be presented withsponsored content items in a manner that does not interrupt thepresentation of the media content item in an incoherent or unusuallyintrusive way (e.g., by stopping the presentation in the middle of ascene, during a dialogue, etc.). Accordingly, using such a collection ofstored media content items (e.g., a set of videos) with respect to whichtransitions have already been identified (e.g., based on manualannotation), such media content items can be processed/analyzed, such asusing one or more machine learning techniques, in order to identify oneor more characteristics/features (e.g., visual characteristics, audiocharacteristics, temporal characteristics, semantic characteristics,viewership characteristics, etc.) that correspond to the transitionsidentified with respect to such media content items. Examples of suchaudio characteristics include but are not limited to: audio genre(music, speech, silence, noise, etc.), volume, and length. Examples ofsuch visual features include but are not limited to: distance to anadjacent shot change, length of an adjacent shot, and brightness/colordifferences between shots.

At block 220, a media content item can be processed. For example, uponreceiving a new media content item (e.g., via upload), a media sharingservice can initially process/analyze such a media content item. Indoing so, characteristics of the media content item (e.g., audio/visualcharacteristics) can be identified, thereby identifying one or moretransitions within the media content item (e.g., in lieu of providingsuch a media content item for manual review). It should be understoodthat such a media content item can be, for example, a media content item(e.g., a video) provided by a content creator, such as to a mediasharing service. It should also be understood that, in certainimplementations, the transitions identified within the referenced mediacontent item (e.g., a recently uploaded video) can be similar,comparable, and/or identical to one or more of the transitionsidentified in relation to a set of previously annotated content items(such as in the manner described at block 210).

In certain implementations, the referenced media content item (e.g., amedia content item provided by a content creator to a media sharingservice) can be processed to identify a transition within one or moreimages that are included within the media content item (e.g., one ormore images or sets of images that are included/make up the mediacontent item). By way of illustration, FIG. 3A depicts an exemplarymedia content item at one point in time (e.g., at one point during theduration of the media content item), while FIG. 3B depicts the samemedia content item at another point in time (e.g., at another pointduring the duration of the media content item). As can be appreciatedwith reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B, while FIG. 3A depicts a substantiallywhite background, FIG. 3B depicts a substantially black background.Accordingly, the various images that make up the media content item canbe processed, analyzed, etc., such as in order to determine the pointduring the media content item where such a transition (e.g., from thewhite background to the black background) takes place. Such a point canbe identified as a likely transition or transition point within themedia content item (it should be noted that, in certain implementations,multiple transitions can be identified within a single media contentitem).

Moreover, in certain implementations, the referenced media content item(e.g., a media content item provided by a content creator to a mediasharing service) can be processed to identify a transition within audiocontent (e.g. an audio track) that is included/incorporated within themedia content item. By way of illustration, FIG. 4A depicts an exemplarymedia content item at one point in time (e.g., at one point during theduration of the media content item), while FIG. 4B depicts the samemedia content item at another point in time (e.g., at another pointduring the duration of the media content item). As can be appreciatedwith reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, while FIG. 4A depicts a point in themedia content item during which dialogue is taking place (e.g., “Hithere . . . ”), FIG. 4B depicts a point in the media content item duringwhich music is taking place. Accordingly, the audio included in such amedia content item can be processed, analyzed, etc., such as in order todetermine the point during the media content item where such atransition (e.g., from dialogue to music) takes place. Such a point canbe identified as a likely transition or transition point within themedia content item (it should be noted that, in certain implementations,multiple transitions can be identified within a single media contentitem).

In certain implementations, various characteristics of the media contentitem (e.g., a media content item provided by a content creator to amedia sharing service) can be processed with respect/in relation to theone or more characteristics of the one or more respective transitions(e.g., those transitions identified at block 210, such as are identifiedwith respect to various previously stored media content items). In doingso, one or more transitions can be identified within the media contentitem (e.g., the media content item provided by a content creator to amedia sharing service), such as based on the one or more respectivetransitions identified within the respective media content items (e.g.,the transitions identified with respect to various previously storedmedia content items, such as at block 210). That is, having processed(e.g., at block 210) various previously stored media content items(e.g., those that underwent manual review in order to identifytransitions within them) and identified various characteristics (and/orgroups of characteristics) (e.g., visual characteristics, audiocharacteristics, composite characteristics, etc.) that correspond to the(manually identified) transitions, other media content items (e.g.,newly uploaded media content items and/or media content items withrespect to which transitions have not been identified) can be processedin order to identify comparable characteristics within such mediacontent items. In doing so, transitions can be identified within suchmedia content items as well (e.g., at intervals that correspond to thesame/comparable characteristics).

By way of illustration, a set of content items (e.g., ˜1000 videos) canbe selected, such as from a variety of verticals. For each video, shotcuts can be generated, such as using a shot change filter. Additionally,in certain implementations, in scenarios in which multiple transitionsare identified within a relatively short time interval (e.g., if two ormore transitions are identified within one second, ten seconds, oneminute, etc., of one another), a single one of such transitions can beselected (in order to minimize the stopping of a presentation of thevideo multiple times within a short time interval). Additionally, incertain implementations the identified transitions can also be providedto evaluators/administrators who can further review the accuracy of theidentified transition and provide feedback regarding the suitability ofthe identified transition for providing sponsored content. Based on suchfeedback (e.g., based on a majority and/or consensus of severalreviewers with respect to the identified transition, a finaldetermination as to the suitability of the identified transition forproviding a sponsored content item can be computed. Moreover, in certainimplementations, having identified the referenced transitions,characteristics of such transitions can be compared with other contentitems that have been manually annotated with content insertionindicator(s) (which may be the same or a different set of content itemsthan those processes at block 210). In doing so, those transition(s)identified at block 220 can be tested and/or verified against manuallyannotated media content items.

At block 230, a sponsored content item can be received. Such a sponsoredcontent item can be, for example, one or more types of advertisement,such as a video advertisement, and can be received from an ad servingservice such as sponsored content server 160. It should be understoodthat, in certain implementations, the referenced sponsored content itemcan be selected by sponsored content server 160 from a set of sponsoredcontent items and provided to the server 120 or the social network 170(or served to the user/content viewer device in response to instructionsfrom the server 120 or the social network 170). For example, sponsoredcontent items such as ads can be auctioned to determine what ads shouldbe returned to the server 120 and/or the order in which they should bepresented to the user. This determination may depend on, for example,other advertisers' bids (e.g., the maximum amount an advertiser will payper user click on an advertisement) and/or the performance scores of theads. The performance score of an ad may be calculated based on, forexample, historical click-through rates, relevance of an advertiser's adtext and keywords, an advertiser's account history, etc. In anotherimplementation, the ads are selected by the sponsored content server 160on a reservation basis (e.g., based on predefined conditions) withouttaking into account other advertisers' bids and/or the performancescores of the ads.

At block 240, the sponsored content item can be provided. In certainimplementations, such a sponsored content item (e.g., an advertisementsuch as a video advertisement) can be provided in relation to atransition (e.g., at a particular chronological interval) identifiedwithin the media content item (e.g., as identified at block 220).Moreover, in certain implementations such a sponsored content item canbe provided during a presentation of the media content item (e.g., at atransition identified within the duration of the media content item, atwhich point the media content item can be paused, the sponsored contentitem can be presented, and the media content item can then be resumed).

In certain implementations, such a sponsored content item can beprovided prior to a chronological interval of the media content item,such as a chronological interval identified at block 220. That is, beingthat a transition can be identified within the media content item basedon an identified chronological interval of the media content item (e.g.,one or more points in time) during which various viewers stop viewingthe media content item, it can be further determined that at one or morepoints prior to such an interval, viewers continue to be engaged withthe media content item. As such, a sponsored content item can beprovided prior to the identified transition (i.e., the point at whichsome viewers can be determined to lose interest). In doing so, contentsponsors can ensure that their sponsored content items are more likelyto be viewed, as viewers of the media content item are likely to beinterested in viewing more of the media content item (e.g., after thecompletion of the sponsored content item).

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative computer system within which a set ofinstructions, for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, may be executed. In alternativeimplementations, the machine may be connected (e.g., networked) to othermachines in a LAN, an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. Themachine may operate in the capacity of a server machine in client-servernetwork environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), aset-top box (STB), a server, a network router, switch or bridge, or anymachine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The exemplary computer system 600 includes a processing system(processor) 602, a main memory 604 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flashmemory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM(SDRAM)), a static memory 606 (e.g., flash memory, static random accessmemory (SRAM)), and a data storage device 616, which communicate witheach other via a bus 608.

Processor 602 represents one or more general-purpose processing devicessuch as a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like. Moreparticularly, the processor 602 may be a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing(RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor,or a processor implementing other instruction sets or processorsimplementing a combination of instruction sets. The processor 602 mayalso be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor,or the like. The processor 602 is configured to execute instructions 626for performing the operations and steps discussed herein.

The computer system 600 may further include a network interface device622. The computer system 600 also may include a video display unit 610(e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), analphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 614 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 620 (e.g., aspeaker).

The data storage device 616 may include a computer-readable medium 624on which is stored one or more sets of instructions 626 (e.g.,instructions executed by collaboration manager 225, etc.) embodying anyone or more of the methodologies or functions described herein.Instructions 626 may also reside, completely or at least partially,within the main memory 604 and/or within the processor 602 duringexecution thereof by the computer system 600, the main memory 604 andthe processor 602 also constituting computer-readable media.Instructions 626 may further be transmitted or received over a networkvia the network interface device 622.

While the computer-readable storage medium 624 is shown in an exemplaryembodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable storagemedium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media(e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated cachesand servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer-readable storage medium” shall also be taken to include anymedium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set ofinstructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine toperform any one or more of the methodologies of the present disclosure.The term “computer-readable storage medium” shall accordingly be takento include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical media,and magnetic media.

In the above description, numerous details are set forth. It will beapparent, however, to one of ordinary skill in the art having thebenefit of this disclosure, that embodiments may be practiced withoutthese specific details. In some instances, well-known structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in orderto avoid obscuring the description.

Some portions of the detailed description are presented in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bitswithin a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the means used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desiredresult. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physicalquantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take theform of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored,transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It hasproven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, torefer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters,terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussion, itis appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “receiving,” “processing,” “defining,” “distributing,” orthe like, refer to the actions and processes of a computer system, orsimilar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transformsdata represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within thecomputer system's registers and memories into other data similarlyrepresented as physical quantities within the computer system memoriesor registers or other such information storage, transmission or displaydevices.

Aspects and implementations of the disclosure also relate to anapparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may bespecially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise ageneral purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by acomputer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may bestored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but not limitedto, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, andmagnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random accessmemories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any typeof media suitable for storing electronic instructions.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purposesystems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachingsherein, or it may prove convenient to construct a more specializedapparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structurefor a variety of these systems will appear from the description below.In addition, the present disclosure is not described with reference toany particular programming language. It will be appreciated that avariety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachingsof the disclosure as described herein.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to beillustrative, and not restrictive. Many other embodiments will beapparent to those of skill in the art upon reading and understanding theabove description. Moreover, the techniques described above could beapplied to other types of data instead of, or in addition to, mediaclips (e.g., images, audio clips, textual documents, web pages, etc.).The scope of the disclosure should, therefore, be determined withreference to the appended claims, along with the full scope ofequivalents to which such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: processing a reference mediacontent item with respect to which a first sponsored content item hasbeen previously presented at a chronological interval of the referencemedia content item to identify one or more characteristics of thereference media content item that are associated with a previouslyidentified transition within the reference media content item, thetransition corresponding to the chronological interval of the referencemedia content item; processing, by a processing device, a new mediacontent item using the one or more characteristics of the referencemedia content item that are associated with the previously identifiedtransition within the reference media content item to identify atransition within the new media content item at a chronological intervalof the new media content item; receiving a second sponsored contentitem; and during a presentation of the new media content item, providingthe second sponsored content item at the identified chronologicalinterval of the new media content item.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein processing the reference media content item comprises processingthe reference media content item to identify a previously identifiedtransition within one or more images that are included within thereference media content item.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinprocessing the reference media content item comprises processing thereference media content item to identify a previously identifiedtransition within audio content that is included within the referencemedia content item.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein processing thereference media content item comprises processing the reference mediacontent item to identify a previously identified transition within audiocontent and video content that are included within the first mediacontent item.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the referencemedia content item comprises processing a plurality of reference mediacontent items, each of the reference media content items beingassociated with a respective previously identified transition, toidentify one or more characteristics associated with the respectivepreviously identified transitions.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thereference media content item is associated with a content insertionindicator that corresponds to the previously identified transition.
 7. Asystem comprising: a memory; and a processing device, coupled to thememory, to: process a reference media content item with respect to whicha first sponsored content item has been previously presented at achronological interval of the reference media content item to identifyone or more characteristics of the reference media content item that areassociated with a previously identified transition within the referencemedia content item, the previously identified transition correspondingto the chronological interval of the reference media content item;process a new media content item using the one or more characteristicsof the reference media content item that are associated with thepreviously identified transition within the reference media content itemto identify a transition within the new media content item at achronological interval of the new media content item; receive a secondsponsored content item; and, during a presentation of the new mediacontent item, provide the second sponsored content item at theidentified chronological interval of the new media content item.
 8. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein to process the reference media content itemis to process the reference media content item to identify a previouslyidentified transition within one or more images that are included withinthe reference media content item.
 9. The system of claim 7, wherein toprocess the reference media content item is to process the referencemedia content item to identify a previously identified transition withinaudio content that is included within the reference media content item.10. The system of claim 7, wherein to process the reference mediacontent item is to process the reference media content item to identifya previously identified transition within audio content and videocontent that are included within the reference media content item. 11.The system of claim 7, wherein to process the reference media contentitem is to process a plurality of reference media content items, each ofthe reference media content items being associated with a respectivepreviously identified transition, to identify one or morecharacteristics associated with the respective previously identifiedtransitions.
 12. The system of claim 7, wherein the reference mediacontent item is associated with a content insertion indicator thatcorresponds to the previously identified transition.
 13. Anon-transitory computer readable medium having instructions storedthereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:process a reference media content item with respect to which a firstsponsored content item has been previously presented at a chronologicalinterval of the reference media content item to identify one or morecharacteristics of the reference media content item that are associatedwith a previously identified transition within the reference mediacontent item, the previously identified transition corresponding to thechronological interval of the reference media content item; process anew media content item using the one or more characteristics of thereference media content item that are associated with the previouslyidentified transition within the reference media content item toidentify a transition within the new media content item at achronological interval of the new media content item; receive a secondsponsored content item; and, during a presentation of the new mediacontent item, provide the second sponsored content item at theidentified chronological interval of the new media content item.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein to processthe reference media content item is to process the reference mediacontent item to identify a previously identified transition within oneor more images that are included within the reference media contentitem.
 15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13,wherein to process the reference media content item is to process thereference media content item to identify a previously identifiedtransition within audio content that is included within the referencemedia content item.
 16. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 13, wherein to process the reference media content item is toprocess the reference media content item to identify a previouslyidentified transition within audio content and video content that areincluded within the reference media content item.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 13, wherein to process the referencemedia content item is to process a plurality of reference media contentitems, each of the reference media content items being associated with arespective previously identified transition, to identify one or morecharacteristics associated with the respective previously identifiedtransitions.
 18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim13, wherein the reference media content item is associated with acontent insertion indicator that corresponds to the previouslyidentified transition.